Two residential buildings were razed with properties worth millions destroyed by fire in the early hours of Monday at Akinremi street, off Capitol road, Agege, Lagos.
Shocking footages posted on social media by residents show the fire spiraling high as a huge cloud of thick black smoke plumed into the night sky.
Residents rushed to the scene as first responders to put out the fire before the Lagos State Fire Service entered the area.
Sources said the fire started around 5:30am when Muslims were called to prayer.
As the fire spread, residents in nearby buildings managed to escape with their valuables.
As of the time of filing this report, it was not yet known how the fire started.
A resident who spoke with The Nation said the fire was assisted by petrol stored in one of the buildings.
“The fire started from the other building before ours. Their is a woman cooking in front of that building who uses gas.
“In this same building some people have petrol because they sell black market. This helped the fire move fast and it entered our own building. Look at us now, we have nothing left. Everything is gone,” he said.
Another resident said: “The fire started with a lady cooking in front of one the building. If she had called for help am sure it won’t get to this. The people in the neighborhood tried their best before the fire fighters came but the fire is on as you can see.”
Another person said: “We had to evacuate our properties so that the fire won’t get to our building because the way this fire is going, we cannot predict the end.”